The MJV is thrilled to announce that the Almond Board of California has joined the network! The Almond Board of California was established in 1950 and includes more than 7,600 growers and 99 almonds handlers across California. They engage in research, market development domestically and abroad, food safety, and quality. The Almond Board conducts extensive outreach to growers, beekeepers, and pest control advisors to adopt best management practices based on scientific research. The Almond Board has been a strong advocate for habitat on working lands, pollinators, and monarchs and is a co-founder of the California Pollinator Coalition.
Over the past three years, the Almond Board has expanded their efforts to promote pollinator forage and habitat plantings on farms in the Central Valley of California. They provide funding and outreach support for the Monarchs and More Western Habitat Program, a program working to get free seed and habitat technical assistance to growers and giving a boost to pollinators with an influx of native plants on the ground. The Almond Board’s goal is to continue to expand forage and habitat on almond farms by raising awareness and connecting the MJV network to growers and almond industry companies.
The MJV acknowledges the need for an all-hands-on-deck approach to monarch and pollinator conservation and facilitating the connection between conservation professionals and industry to create stronger programs. The Almond Board brings an understanding of the opportunities and challenges of adding habitat and forage to working lands, and an opportunity to expand access to MJV partner programs to their network of farmers managing 1.6 million acres of land across the Central Valley of California. We are excited to welcome the Board into the network to help them learn more about the needs for monarch conservation and help expand the reach of MJV partner programs that can provide on-the-ground technical assistance to their growers. For more information about the Almond Board of California, please visit: www.almonds.com
The Monarch Joint Venture is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and a national partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and academic programs working together to conserve the monarch butterfly migration. The content in this article does not necessarily reflect the positions of all Monarch Joint Venture partners. Photo courtesy of the Almond Board of California.